You can not deny someone their rights to fight though, simply because of his tattoos or his beliefs. The sport is about fighting. If he is a well trained, well mannered fighter. LET HiM FIIGHT.. its his right. Stop being pussies. What he does outside the octagon ..is not ones business, you think kimbo or rampage are boyscouts outside of the octogon? Doubtful.

Grow up ppl. This is about someones rights. And its about MMA. He isnt fucking running for president.

Get over yourselves and stop being what you hate.

GB, regarding post 147. Costa will probably get fired because of what his Swastika tatoo symbolizes. He must be aware of the possible consequences of such a decision. One might even ask the question does he stand to gain more or lose more by his decision? Let’s explore the probable meaning behind this apparent madness.
What doe he stand to gain?

Melvin’s deliberate decision to expose a Swaztika tatoo front and center of his body guarantees that Media attention will be focused on him(Melvin Costa the man)both prior to (its already started in this forum) and after his termination by ProElite.
It is a risk that he’s clearly willing to take perhaps to focus attention on his political beliefs about race& culture as well as his fighting career. If his gambit succeeds, it gets people and the media talking. Millions will know Melvin Costa, the MMA fighter and the”White Power” proponent (I didn’t before Sam’s post).If/when he gets fired and sues ProElite for discriminating against him for promoting discrimination(mindboggling), and gets a settlement, he is better off financially(especially if he is not a great fighter?) and can retire early.

If this situation gets enough media attention, all kinds of mainstream and interest group pressures will force ProElite to act. As a business enterprise seeking profit through advertising sponsorships, it won’t risk negative exposure. So this might be a forseen &calculated reaction to Melvin’s initial play.

What does he stand to lose?
If the media doesn’t bite or buy it then nothing happens. More people know who he is and what he believes and he goes on being Melvin Costa.
If he gets fired and doesn’t get a settlement, he loses his job @ ProElite but gets exposure for his beliefs and his fledgling career.

He really doesn’t stand to lose much. If he really wants to continue fighting anywhere he can just cover up the tatoos and keep his racial ideologies internal but his goal must be mass exposure or he wouldn’t risk getting fired.

Yeah but Hitler kinda beat him to it….

Not true. It wouldn’t be worth the HR headache so he/she would never get hired. In a PC world an office cannot risk such things.

We’re not talking about “most places”, were talking about a company in a rapidly growing industry which has VERY strong ties to the media. In addition to that, the partnership with CBS is new–there is much to protect. And lets not forget that the rest of the industry will be greatly impacted by the way that this specific company conducts itself moving forward.

“Would those who are criticizing Shaw and Elite XC be willing to stop patronizing the company and/or working for it if it doesn’t fire Costa?”

Sure… and lets also stop their families from eating for a week too while they try to find another job since Shaw is a douche. As far as I’m concerned, the majority of large corporations are crooked, as is our government… (another debate) Would this cause me to quit work? No. Would this cause me to leave my country? No. I’m sorry, but I think no one has answered this question because its a dumb one…

“Also, wouldn’t it be an egregious double standard to fire someone on account of how he could damage the company and yet keep on hiring convicted felons or people that have made repeated racist comments in the past?”

Again, you miss the points made above… Yes, it’s a double standard because Shaw is a douche, but regardless, Costa is already garnering negative media, so he needs to be snipped (reference the concepts of business discussed in various posts above)

“Finally, I seem to remember another irrelevant fighter with a bunch of offensive tattoos. His stupid name was the “L.A. Giant” and he fought in one of Pride’s biggest events, the Grand Prix. Did it affect the company in any way?”

PRIDE is not a US company, nor is it in any way affiliated with a major television network, what does this have to do with this debate? In any event, Japan has different laws/policies, social standards, culture, history, blah blah blah… Very few of us are capable of arguing from an eastern point of view.

Thanks for an insightful and intelligent post. I agree with most of it as well as the fact that you didn’t stoop to insult those who don’t share your opinion. Having said that, I still think most places would not fire someone just because he happens to sport an offensive tattoo. They would do so, however, if the person in question explicitly conducts himself in an offensive manner and there’s tangible evidence beyond someone’s opinion that his conduct is disruptive of the workplace and actually threatens other people.

I know your post wasn’t concerned with this but there’s a few questions that nobody has answered and, if the interest in this discussion is still here, I’d like to see addressed. Would those who are criticizing Shaw and Elite XC be willing to stop patronizing the company and/or working for it if it doesn’t fire Costa? I believe that would be the consequent thing to do. Also, wouldn’t it be an egregious double standard to fire someone on account of how he could damage the company and yet keep on hiring convicted felons or people that have made repeated racist comments in the past? Finally, I seem to remember another irrelevant fighter with a bunch of offensive tattoos. His stupid name was the “L.A. Giant” and he fought in one of Pride’s biggest events, the Grand Prix. Did it affect the company in any way? As far as I know, no, even though as a fighter he’s just as irrelevant as Costa.

(And just for the record, I say this as a libertarian. I have no interest in justifying racism)

Frank, do you mind if I just copy and paste your post and use it as a response in case anything like this comes up again?

We all seem to agree that free Speech is protected by the Constitution and that Melvin Costa has this right.

However, some kinds of free speech can offend others’ sensibilities and when that happens the(others) have a right to respond verbally and through applying political, economic and social pressure to right the wrong or stop the offense. This is also freedom of speech.

Some kinds of free speech (specifically those deemed harmful) can provoke consequences for the speaker.

For example; expressing/showing sexual thoughts,drawings,pictures,internet clips in the work place that clients or coworkers find offensive can get a person fired. Also, racist comments in the work place and in public office can get a person fired too. This happens all the time and is not at odds with the Constitution.

Melvin Costa can easily be fired by his employers(Proelite) if their clients and shareholders find his free speech (Swaztika) offensive. Sure he can continue to express himself but doesn’t mean he will be able to keep his job. He is a grown man and free moral agent who must decide what
consequences he can and can’t live with.

Another, real world example is that those guys in this forum who are cussin’ each other can easily be banned from this forum by the owner.They can continue to cuss each other just not in this forum. Is it not Sam’s prerogative to make that decision if it makes sense for his website? As i said before the rules of prison do not apply in civilized society. In MMA, Melvin must play by the rules of corporate America and not the penitentiary or face the consequences.

All fighters start out as “c” level or maybe even lower. But what if this guy starts KTFO people, and rising on everyone’s top 10….is this a guy you want representing the sport? MMA is in it’s infancy..and couldn’t overcome something like that. The NFL is established enough to survive PR nightmares (Vick, Ray Lewis, etc). The mainstream media work use something like Costa to slam the sport any chance they got

It was actually pretty funny because he also had plump breasts lol